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The WFF made it’s long awaited return to Vancouver and if there were two words to describe the night they would be “Quick Submissions” as 6 of the seven fights ended by submission in the first half of the first round! The duration of all seven fights combined came out to a grand total of 20 minutes and 21 seconds! Every fighter on the night seemed intent on pushing the action so there were no lulls in the action, call it my own selfish love for MMA, but it seemed the night went by just a little too fast. I would have loved to have seen one or two more fights, but the late drop outs were a matter of bad luck and were clearly not the fault of the promoters. The full report of all the nights action is as follows.

Newton celebrates his victory as the ref checks on Kassimatis

The first bout of the evening started quickly with Kassimatis surprising his opponent by getting in a strong punch-kick combo to kick off the proceedings. That combo would be the highlight of the night for Mr. Kassimatis however as things would get progressively worse from then on out. Newton rebounded well by working the high guard on his opponent when the fight eventually found itself on the mat, and Newton would eventually secure the tight triangle choke that choked Kassmiatis completely unconscious! In the words of the referee he “tapped out with a closed fist” so it was unclear to those looking on whether he was tapping or still trying to defend the submission hold and strike his way out. It would not be long before we would find out as he suddenly went limp and went out completely. Newton takes the first fight of the evening quickly at 1:29 or Rd 1.

In Craig Yee’s pre fight intro he confidently proclaimed that his opponent would be in his web and that he was the spider, his words would prove to be prophetic as he dismantled his opponent with spider like efficiency. His opponent Chad Freeman looked to work for the takedown but was mounted in the ensuing scramble and Yee would seize his opportunity and viscously pounded out his opponent from mount position, and eventually securing the fight ending rear naked choke to take the fight at 1:32 seconds of the first stanza.

Youngsters Ben Greer and Dan Ratiu squared off in the third fight of the night in an entertaining fight that saw kickboxer Ben Greer surprisingly take the fight with a submission. Greer has been rumored to have been working with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Marcus Soares in an attempt to shore up his ground skills. It seems to have worked well as Greer sunk in an armbar after getting taken down and held on to it despite being dumped on his head by the game Ratiu who tried to slam him on his head to escape. Greer didn’t let the shake up rattle him however, and eventually sunk in the fight finishing submission that forced the tapout at 2:32 or the first stanza in a fight that saw most of the action play out on the mat.

Ironically it was the only bout of the evening that went to a decision that proved to be the most entertaining on this night. Graydon Tannis from Canuckles in Calgary, who also had the best fight of the night against Judo Jason Zazalenchuk back at WFF 7, took on Sal Ram in a back and forth slugfest that got the crown on it’s feet on more then one occasion. Tannis came out the aggressor and looked to press the action early on. He was able to take the fight to the mat where he worked for the rear naked choke after working his way to the back of Ram and seemed to be in control of the fight. The fight took a U turn when Ram landed a huge shot that dropped Tannis to the mat. The Ref stepped in quickly to separate the fighters and Ram’s team began to celebrate what they thought was a victory. In fact, Shooto rules dictate that a fighter gets a standing 8 count after a knock down and that is exactly what happened. Tannis would use his time to recover and make the best of his recovery he did. Ram and Tannis again swung for the fences and it appeared that another shot connected on Tannis because his nose then began to bleed so severely the referee was forced to get a doctor to look at it. The bleeding was stopped and Tannis was deemed ready to continue and seeing his opportunity slip away he gave everything he had to close the round out and just seconds before the bell rung to end the round, he landed two thudding knees to the face of Ram that appeared to wobble him. The bell rang however and Ram had a minute in between rounds to recover.

The second round saw Ram’s energy levels slipping and Tannis seized his opportunity to rack up points. Seeing that Ram had little in the gas tank he controlled the first 3 and a half minutes of the 2 nd round working on Ram who seemed to be stuck in the turtle position and unable to mount any offense of his own. Here Tinnis dropped punches, hammerfists, and even went for submissions but could not finish the fight. It was not until late in the round when Ram was able to muster any more offense and flurried with his hands looking for the K.O shot that didn’t come. Tannis’s cardio proved to be stronger and he was able to secure the mount to close the fight but the bell rang before he could do any damage from the position. After two rounds the Judges awarded the victory to Sal Ram. After words rumors circulated that Tannis had his nose broken in the first round but that could not be confirmed in time for this report.

Carvalho working on the arm of Lee

After the 15 break period it was Antonio Carvalho taking on Tommy Lee in what was touted as the battle for the # 1 contendership ranking for Shooto Americas. This bout, like most before and after it on this night, would not be an extended one. After a brief flurry to start the contest Tommy Lee shot in quickly for the takedown and despite a quick sprawl by Carvalho, Lee showed his strong wrestling background and eventually took the new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Blackbelt to the mat. This would prove to be his undoing however and it was Carvalho who quickly went to work from his back keeping Lee on the defensive with submission attempts and working on an inverted armlock that looked like it had found it’s mark. Lee would show his trademark heart and jimmied his arm free despite Carvalho telling me after the fight he heard Lee’s elbow pop several times from the armlock, but Carvalho quickly slid the legs up and trapped him in a triangle choke that eventually forced Lee to tap out at 2:02 of round 1. Carvalho is now preparing himself to face a man that is considered by many to be the best 145 pound fighter in Canada , UFC veteran Ivan Menjivar at KOTC Canada on April 16th . With his impressive victory Carvalho took home the MMA Ring Report Fighter of the night award and is the second Shah Franco member to do so behind Justin Bruckmann who won the inaugural award back in June of 2004.

In the semi Main event of the evening hometown favorite, Kalib Starnes impressed with his dominance of opponent Gerry Elliot. The fight lasted only 35 seconds, just enough time for Starnes to secure the takedown, take the mount, and close the deal with an arm triangle that finished his overmatched opponent. In his pre fight intro he mentioned he didn’t want to hurt his opponent and preferred to finish with a submission. He was true to his word and did so to continue the trend of quick submission victories..

Another Hometown favorite that has trained with the likes of Frank Shamrock impressed in his first MMA fight in almost 5 years! KOTC veteran Dan Rizzuto made his way back into the MMA fold and took on Troy O Connor in the main event of the evening. This was another fight that would not see the bell for round two as Rizzuto took the fight to the mat quickly and went to work. O Connor proved to be a lively opponent and got off his back but Rizzuto pulled of a beautiful reversal and got back on top where it was a matter of time before he took his opponents back and secured the rear naked choke to close the evening. Rizzuto wins by submission at 2:11 rd 1.

With his impressive victory Carvalho took home the MMA Ring Report Fighter of the night award to close the nights festivities. The event ran smoothly but if there was one area where the WFF clearly needed to tighten the screws was in their production. Every single fighter intro was botched in some way, with mishaps ranging from the wrong intro playing, to intro’s being cut off half way through, to intro’s being skipped all together. With the production taken care of I feel the event could have really come off with a much more polished look to top off the action on the night, but nit picking aside the fighters came to fight and the event was in check from the get go. It had been almost a year since the last WFF so it was good too see the WFF make its return as they have had to make their way through several date and location changes based on various different roadblocks. It was a home coming of sorts for the WFF as they had their third straight show in Vancouver at the Croatian Cultural Centre which is quickly establishing itself as a hotspot in Vancouver. The next event on the WFF calendar will be in September right back at the Croatian Cultural centre in Vancouver , and as a bonus it is rumored that we may see some title fights on that card. On the whole an entertaining event that the packed house really seemed to get into, and with attendance increasing each time out the WFF is clearly on its way to bigger and better things.

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